The Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has opened an office in San Francisco to spearhead its expansion into the tech start-up sector.
The Silicon Valley office will be the sovereign wealth fund’s fourth overseas branch following openings in New York, London and Singapore in 2010, 2011 and 2017 respectively.
Operations in San Francisco will come under the remit of the New York office.
According to KIC, the new office will help the fund to deepen its relationships with global investors in Silicon Valley and will be pivotal to its ambitions to increase its investment in tech startup as part of a plan to increase its allocation to alternative assets.
The sovereign fund had US$183.1 billion at the end of 2020, 15.3% of which was invested in alternatives, a figure which KIC is looking to “gradually increase” to 20%.
“KIC is committed to investing in innovations that will lead new paradigms,” said Heenam Choi, chief executive at KIC.
“As investors, we are faced with the challenges that come with rapid technological transformations and the New Normal brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
© 2021 funds global asia